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Navajo

Federal Court Rejects Drilling And Fracking In Greater Chaco Region

February 2, 2023 Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians. , , , , , ,
A federal appeals court yesterday rejected the Biden administration’s defense of unchecked oil and gas fracking in the Greater Chaco region of northwest New Mexico, ruling the U.S. Interior Department flouted the law when approving 199 drilling permits in the culturally significant landscape. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is being hailed as a victory for Tribal and environmental groups who have worked for years to defend the landscape from rampant oil and gas extraction. With Chaco Canyon at its heart, the Greater Chaco region is a living and ancient cultural landscape, spanning northwest New Mexico, southwest Colorado, southeast Utah, and northeast Arizona. Today, Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere.

Navajo And Hopi Families Relief Fund Builds Movement In Response To Covid-19 Pandemic

April 8, 2020 NavajoHopiSolidarity.org. , , ,
Tsiizizii, Dinétah (Leupp, Navajo Nation/Arizona) - In response to the escalating health crisis facing Diné (Navajo) and Hopi communities in Northern Arizona, Southern Utah, and New Mexico, the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund has mobilized volunteer emergency food and water distribution throughout the region. “It is so amazing to see our communities come together and respond proactively to the threat of coronavirus and COVID-19 on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.” said Ethel Branch, former Navajo Nation Attorney General and founder of the Relief Fund. “I thought this would make just a small impact, but the great love and care that the public has for our communities, and their sense of justice to correct the inequities that exist in Indigenous communities has morphed this effort into a movement.”

Navajo Nations First Solar Project: Electricity For 13,000 Homes

September 5, 2017 Staff, www.AP.org , , ,
By Staff of Associated Press - A giant array of solar panels near the famed sandstone buttes of Monument Valley has begun producing electricity for the Navajo Nation at a time when the tribe is bracing for the loss of hundreds of jobs from the impending closure of a nearby coal-fired power plant. The Kayenta Solar Facility is the first utility-scale solar project on the Navajo Nation, producing enough electricity to power about 13,000 Navajo homes. The plant comes at a time when the area's energy landscape is shifting. o: Antonio Ramirez, APThe coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page is set to close in December 2019, leaving a site that both tribal and private entities say has the potential for renewable energy development. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, which owns the solar plant, said the project advances clean energy on the reservation long known for fossil fuel development, the Arizona Daily Sun reported. Walter Haase, general manager of the tribal utility, said the plant proves to investors, developers and tribal communities that renewable energy projects are possible on the reservation. Economic development often is hampered by the lack of infrastructure, required environmental clearances and consent from anyone holding a permit or lease for use of the land.

Navajo Solar Plant To Replace Coal Plant

August 31, 2017 Staff, www.apnews.com , , ,
By Staff of the Associated Press - FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A giant array of solar panels near the famed sandstone buttes of Monument Valley has begun producing electricity for the Navajo Nation at a time when the tribe is bracing for the loss of hundreds of jobs from the impending closure of a nearby coal-fired power plant. The Kayenta Solar Facility is the first utility-scale solar project on the Navajo Nation, producing enough electricity to power about 13,000 Navajo homes. The plant comes at a time when the area’s energy landscape is shifting. The coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page is set to close in December 2019, leaving a site that both tribal and private entities say has potential for renewable energy development. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, which owns the solar plant, said the project advances clean energy on the reservation long known for fossil fuel development, the Arizona Daily Sun reported. Walter Haase, general manager of the tribal utility, said the plant proves to investors, developers and tribal communities that renewable energy projects are possible on the reservation.

Navajo Sues EPA For $160 Million Over Last Year’s Mining Waste Spill

December 9, 2016 Whitney Webb, www.nationofchange.org , , ,
By Whitney Webb for Mint Press News - Before Dakota Access, many Americans were unaware of the excessive damage and exploitation that Native Americans have endured and continue to suffer from massive corporations. However, last year, one of the worst environmental catastrophes was not caused by a corporation, but by the government itself. More specifically, the disaster was caused by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the very part of the federal government tasked with protecting the environment from such events. In August of 2015, a group of contractors hired by the EPA spilled massive amounts of waste from an abandoned gold mine into the Animas river and its tributaries.

Navajo Water Supply More Poisoned Than Flint’s For Decades

February 3, 2016 M. David, www.mintpressnews.com , , ,
By M. David for Counter Current News - We recently reported on six other cities in Michigan, which have more lead poisoning in their city water supplies, than Flint. The Detroit News reports that “Elevated blood-lead levels are seen in a higher percentage of children in parts of Grand Rapids, Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw, Muskegon, Holland and several other cities, proof that the scourge of lead has not been eradicated despite decades of public health campaigns and hundreds of millions of dollars spent to find and eliminate it.”

Navajo Nation Declares State Of Emergency Over ‘Tragic’ Spill

August 14, 2015 Tristan Ahtone, www.america.aljazeera..com , , , , ,
Farmers and ranchers on Navajo land in northwestern New Mexico are preparing to take heavy losses this season as a plume of wastewater laced with toxic chemicals flows south from an abandoned mine in Colorado. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency spilled around 3 million gallons of contaminated water into the Animas River. According to the EPA, the incident occurred when a crew hired to pump and treat wastewater inside the abandoned Gold King Mine outside of Durango, Colorado, accidently released a brew of arsenic, cadmium, lead and other heavy metals from a mine tunnel. As a precautionary measure, the Navajo Nation has asked citizens to keep livestock away from the San Juan River and stop diverting water from the river for crops. That means farmers like Lorenzo Bates are beginning to plan for the worst. “What is in the water? To what extent are those heavy metals?” said Bates, speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and farmer from Upper Fruitland, New Mexico.

Abandoned Uranium Mines Plague Navajo Nation

May 8, 2015 Sonia Luokkala, www.earthisland.org , , ,
In the 1940s, surveyors discovered significant uranium deposits throughout the once worthless desert landscape of the reservation. Between 1944 and 1986, as the US government aimed to cut off all dependence on imported uranium, nearly 4 million tons of ore were extracted to fuel the Cold War nuclear arm’s race. With the end of the war, the mining companies moved out. They were not required to clean up their mess and left behind the legacy of their extraction efforts, including mining waste and abandoned mines. The incidence of Navajo neuropathy is five times higher on the western side of the Navajo reservation than on the eastern side. Some researchers believe this discrepancy is linked to the land: On the western side, the mines were mostly tunnels, whereas in the west they were primarily open pits.

University Continues Appache Assault At Mount Graham

April 5, 2015 Robin Silver, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
Under smokescreen cover of a admirable petition to help the Navajo protect their sacred San Francisco Peaks against a ski resort, the University of Arizona and its partners have secretly renewed their Mount Graham telescope permit for another 20 years. On Mount Graham, in order to promote their astronomers, the University of Arizona has achieved several firsts, including securing two congressional exemptions from federal cultural, religious and environmental laws. In order to promote the Mt. Graham telescopes, the University of Arizona has become: the first University to fight against the listing of an Endangered Species ( July 21, 1986) the first University to secure a congressional legislative exemption from federal environmental, religious and cultural laws (1988) the first University to promote a project whose biological basis (1988 USFWS Biological Opinion on the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel) is acknowledged to be fraudulent the first University to litigate against the rights of Native Americans to practice their religion (1992)
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